


Universally Acknowledged

by HerSistersKeeper



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Declarations Of Love, F/M, Love Confessions, Pride and Prejudice References, Roommates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:41:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23215708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HerSistersKeeper/pseuds/HerSistersKeeper
Summary: Of all the movies his roommate Rey could like, Ben figured there were worse choices than Pride and Prejudice.However, if he had to listen to Mr. Goddamn Fitzwilliam Darcy talk about being bewitched, body and soul, one more time, he just may put his head through a wall.Based on Reylo Prompts: "Curious Cat Prompt: Ben complains to Phasma about his roommate Rey's obsession with Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice. It's up to Phasma to explain jealousy to Ben."
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 21
Kudos: 256
Collections: Reylo Prompt Fills (@reylo_prompts)





	Universally Acknowledged

She was watching the movie again. 

It was a well worn routine at this point-- he in the living room, she in her bedroom, a quiet Saturday for both. Sometimes, they were both in the living room, but no matter what, about this time of the day, he was sure to hear those all too familiar words.

_ "You must know... surely, you must know it was all for you." _

Of all the movies his roommate Rey could like, Ben figured there were worse choices than  _ Pride and Prejudice.  _ However, if he had to listen to Mr. Goddamn Fitzwilliam Darcy talk about being bewitched, body and soul, one more time, he just may put his head through a wall.

With a groan, he leaned his head back, grimacing even as he mocked the words, repeating them blandly alongside Matthew Macfadyen:  _ "My affections and wishes have not changed, but one word from you will silence me forever." _

He had nothing against Jane Austen. Really. He didn't mind  _ Emma  _ (which he had watched with Rey, per her insistence) or any of her other work. Hell, he didn't mind similar period pieces, even if Rochester from  _ Jane Eyre  _ was maybe the most morally dubious character in classic literature.  Wait, no. That belonged to Heathcliff, and the memory of watching  _ Wuthering Heights _ with his mother made him shudder. 

Regardless, it was a truth universally acknowledged that Ben may have an actual grudge against Mr. Darcy of all fucking people. 

And it was all Rey's fault.

He never blamed Rey for anything. Why would he, seeing that his only complaint was her movie choices? She paid rent on time, cleaned up after herself, and was always willing to share anything with him, be it food, her stories, her space. 

She was friends with his friends (it was how they met, after all-- at the wedding of his friend Hux and her friend Rose). The universe didn't seem to have a problem with them hanging out, seeing that she was the perfect candidate to take Poe's place when he moved in with Finn. All in all, a good match that was in no way like an Austen match.

_ She's also quite pretty,  _ his head supplied and he all but slammed his laptop shut as if to scare the thought away. Thinking like that wouldn't do. After all, at the end of the day, he and Rey were too different.

She was a romantic, he a realist. Whereas he was happy with navy blue and black, she was in love with yellow, green, light blue. He was traditional, she unconventional. They wouldn't make sense together in  _ that _ way, so there was no reason to cross a line and think such a thing.

_ She's also smart, funny, actually puts up with your shit… _ He squeezed the bridge of his nose now as his internal monologue morphed into the voice of Phasma, his friend and coworker. 

She insisted that his roommate was his soulmate. He maintained that she was full of shit. 

Still, there was something maddening about how, well, obsessed Rey had become with Mr. Darcy. She and Rose had a saying on Wine Wednesdays (a sacred occasion that saw him and Armitage having weekly poker nights with the guys) that boiled down to "What would Darcy do?"

It was a ruler with which she measured her dates, a skewed measurement that always found them wanting. 

Not that he minded-- a single roommate was easier to live with, even if Armitage rolled his eyes at the repeated insistence. "The man doth protest too much," he would mutter before bluffing his way to another winning hand.

Still, it was disheartening to see Rey drag herself home, date after disastrous date  wondering when she would meet a "proper gentleman," as she'd huff to Ben, makeup wipes disintegrating the leftovers of another no good, very bad, horrible date night.

It hurt him in a way he’d loathe to admit, even if he found himself relieved-- happy even-- that no one could hold a candle to Darcy. If he were to concede anything to fiction, it would be that the owner of Derbyshire’s miserable half was useful for something.

And okay, he could relate to the awkward overtures of Darcy, feeling his heart tighten in his chest as he glanced down at his hand. Last time he had watched with Rey, she had grabbed his hand in stress at the first proposal scene. He almost teased her-- after all, she knew that it was coming-- but her warm hand, so comforting and light around his, had made the words dry up on his tongue.

For a moment, when she sighed dreamily once more at the love confession, he imagined it was because of him.

And yes, sometimes he’d quote the movie at her if she was having a bad day. Nothing made her laugh harder than when he stormed into her room in an awkward huff a la Lady Catherine. 

He knew the words all too well now, and so did she, and if it made her smile, he'd say anything.

(Phasma would insist it was so that Rey would reply that she would never become engaged to Darcy, but again, she had to be full of shit.)

Speaking of that certain devil, his phone trilled, his coworker’s picture popping up on his screen. Ben groaned again but still answered the call, wondering if this Saturday was doomed to be an annoying one.

“I’m not interrupting the weekly Austen fest, am I?” 

“Hello to you too, Phas. And no, as I’m not watching. Rey’s in her room.” He rolled his eyes at Phasma’s chuckle, rubbing at the stubble on his chin, wondering idly if Rey would go for a Darcy with facial hair.

Probably not, he decided.

“Really? She didn’t convince you to watch it one more time? I’m shocked,” Phasma drawled.

“Yeah, yeah. Did you have a reason to call or is tormenting me on your to-do list?”

“Well, Mr. Grump-Pants, I wanted to check on my favorite Darcy impersonator. You seemed pretty tightly wound this week and I wasn’t sure if you’d staged your own failed proposal yet.”

The words stilled Ben for a moment, his brow furrowing, lips pinching in a frown. “What?”

“You heard me. All you could talk about this week was Rey, and Mr. Darcy, and that whole obsession, and I know for a fact that you’re not in love with a fictional character.” He knew that she had a Poe-esque shit-eating grin on her face, and if he hadn’t frozen in his seat, he’d growl at her.

Instead, he could only mumble, “What?”

There was that frustrated grunt, and he was sure that, if he was next to Phasma, he’d be swatted for his stupidity. “Jesus, I don't know which is worse: your misplaced jealousy or Rey's misplaced crush."

He didn't expect his own volume, his sputtering, how his ears burned now: "I'm sorry, WHAT?!"

From down the hall, he heard the click of a door opening, the shuffle of sweatpants.

"Ben? Are you okay?"

Of course it was Rey who heard him when this epiphany hit. Shit, shit, SHIT.

* * *

If you asked Rey what came first, her Darcy obsession or her crush on Ben Solo, chances are she wouldn’t answer at first. After all, she did genuinely enjoy Austen and watching Kiera Knightley get the man was always a good time. 

However, if you pressed her just enough (like all of her friends had done, several times over), maybe, just maybe, she’d admit that she was projecting her feelings onto someone who could never reject her.

Now, as she stood in her bedroom doorway, peering down the hall, the movie credits rolling on her laptop, waiting for Ben’s answer, Rey wondered once more how she got herself into this mess. 

No one was at fault-- after all, the universe had arranged their meeting with a crash and a bang, had oddly pitted them against each other. She hadn’t liked him at first, even if she did admit that he was attractive.

Okay, very attractive. Unfairly attractive. Unfortunately attractive.

If her past self could see her now, she would be bamboozled at the progress they had made, and yet soothed by the fact that nothing-- NOTHING-- was ever going to happen between them. 

Ben liked her well enough, though her mind corrected her: _He’s my best friend._ Elizabeth and Darcy couldn’t have said that halfway through their movie, so Rey would settle for it. Being close was both pain and pleasure, torture and a gift. 

Yet, as she stood, still waiting and wondering what had prompted Ben to yell, she knew that it would never be enough.

Finally, Ben stepped into the hallway, his look apologetic, his phone in hand. “Sorry--Phas is being ridiculous.”

“No worries,” Rey shrugged, returning the smile Ben was giving her, his grin just a smidge crooked. One of her favorite things about him.  She turned, about to step into her room once more, leaving her roommate to his devices, when he spoke again.

“Hey. Can we, erm, talk? Once I’m off the phone.” There was that apologetic look again, and Rey forced herself to swallow the lump in her throat.

“Sure. Just let me know.” Before he could say anything more, she ducked back into her room, her door all but slamming behind her.

Her heart felt like it was trying to break out of her chest, hammering with nerves as it was. What does he want to talk about? She didn’t know, and didn’t want to know.  Instead of dealing with the unknowable, Rey took a breath and restarted the movie. Another rewatch in this stressful time was more than allowed.

Ben’s phone call took a smidge longer than she thought, and when he finally knocked on her bedroom door, she was almost to her second favorite scene: the failed proposal.  Yes, sometimes it made her cringe, and yes, sometimes she cried over it, but still: having received no declaration of love made her yearn for even a failed attempt.

Ben didn’t say anything once she bid him to come him, only crossing the room to sink down next to her on the bed, pensive and quiet like usual. 

He seemed deep in thought, so she didn’t push him to speak, instead crawling out from under her mound of blankets to sit beside him. Their backs against her headboard, they stared at the laptop screen, waiting for the other to speak. 

Rey was happy not speaking, shoulder to shoulder with Ben, feeling the heat of his leg pressed against hers, the laptop balanced between their laps. 

Finally, after watching Darcy struggle to not make an ass of himself, Ben spoke. “You would think that he'd be better at this if he liked her so much.” 

It was a reasonable criticism, but it made Rey bristle all the same. “He’s trying, which is all that counts right now.”

“You’re right. I get where he’s coming from though. Feelings are hard and rejection is scary.”

Were they still talking about the movie, or something else?

“Sometimes rejection is worth it,” she murmured, wondering why her throat felt tight, why she felt like she could only whisper, especially now that he was looking at her. His brown eyes were intense as always, but there was a glint of something there. Hope?

“I guess I should take a page out of Darcy’s book then?”

“What do you mean?” She peered at him, his smile widening.

“I mean, he did say it better than I could.”

She didn’t have the chance to ask what he was rambling on about. All she knew was that, in a moment, the movie was paused, her hand was in his, and the look on his face sent butterflies rushing to every part of her body.

“Rey, in the words of Mr. Darcy:  I have struggled in vain and I can bear it no longer. These past months have been a torment. I came here with the single object of seeing you... I had to see you. I have fought against my better judgment, my fear, and our circumstances. All these things I am willing to put aside and ask you to end my agony.”

She knew the words that followed, and she almost dared not to speak them. “I don’t understand.”

“I love you.”

For a moment, she couldn’t say a word, staring at him, mouth agape. His hand, so warm around hers, anchored her, yet she stayed silent. She didn’t want to jinx it, especially now. It was too perfect.

It seemed that Ben took her silence for rejection, his hand slipping away from hers. “It’s alright if you don’t feel the same. I--”

Whatever followed next was silenced by her lips on his, and she felt him smile.

Later, curled up on the couch together, Rey sighed happily, credits rolling once more. "You can't hate Mr. Darcy anymore."

"Of course I can't. I have better luck than him," Ben teased, ignoring how his girlfriend pinched him. He grinned all the same.

"Don't push it, Solo."

In a moment, he was pulling her back in, and Rey could only smile as he peppered her face with kisses. "Of course, Mrs. Darcy. Or do you want to be called 'goddess divine?'"

She kissed him instead of answering.

Maybe one day, maybe soon, she could tell him how much she'd like to be called Mrs. Solo, but for now, she would wait.  She was fine with waiting, now that she had all the time in the world with her favorite person.

And to think that it was all thanks to Mr. Darcy.


End file.
